Archives for July 2017

A big drug bust at the Seneca Allegany Casino hotel room. 200 bags of fentanyl, pills and marijuana were reportedly found in a vehicle and Seneca Allegany Casino hotel room. Three Buffalo-area men are facing felony charges. 21 year old Jose Alvarez, 25 year old Angel Cabrera, both of Buffalo, and 20 year old Wilfredo Cruz Jr., of Tonawanda, were charged with possession of a controlled substance and sale of a controlled substance. Authorities said other charges are pending. The arrests were the result of a task force investigation into illegal narcotic sales.
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For a short time, the water near the base of Niagara Falls turned an alarming shade of black before tourists’ eyes. And it didn’t smell good. The water board for the city of Niagara Falls, says Saturday’s discharge was part of routine maintenance of one of its basins. The black water covered the dock for the popular Maid of the Mist tour boats. Officials say the odor was “normal sewer water discharge smell.”

An Olean man admits that he downloaded hundreds of pictures of child pornography and he could be lookign at 20 years in a federal prision for it. 35 year old Shawn Lebrecht pleaded guilty to a federal charge.
He was caught by last August by an undercover law enforcement officer who was communicating online with Lebrecht and Lebrecht sent the officer several images of child pornography.
Police got a search warrant and say they found more than 300 images of child porn on his laptop computer.
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Construction crews will be out in a couple of weeks to work on a state-owned bridge on West Main Street in Roulette Township as part of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Rapid Bridge Replacement Project. The 68-foot bridge crosses over Fishing Creek near the village of Roulette. It dates from 1918 and carries an average of 360 vehicles each day. Construction is expected to begin the week of Aug. 14 and be complete in October.

The Field of Dreams assisted living center in Allegany will have to take a nap before they work on it again.
The plans have been put on hold while they redesign it. It was originally planned to be completed next year, but now that’s been rolled back to 2019. Under the redesign, the facility will have high-end heating and air conditioning systems. The Cattaraugus County Department of Social Services, the Office of Aging and the state all say there’s a need for assisted living programs in the community.
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A fire at an abandoned home in Johnsonburg Tuesday night was no accident. Police are looking for an arsonist. Ridgway-based state police said the Johnsonburg Fire Department, police and the fire marshal, investigated the source and origin of the fire that damaged the abandoned two-story home. There have been other fires have occurred at the same property. There were no injuries in the blaze.

Popularion in Cattaraugus County’s declining, and experts expect that it’s just getting started.
According to a new Cornell University report, the county’s population will continue to drop for the next 20 years. The study found that from 2000 to 2010, the population had dropped 4.3 percent.
The largest decline was in Olean. The study says that by 2040 there could be a total of 20 per cent fewer people living in the county. .
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A handful of vocal homeowners spoke to the Common Council Tuesday on a bill to require inspections at rental properties. The bill’s been debated since June, with aldermen coming up with several proposals on the frequency of inspections, the cost and how the city will enforce the inspections.
Some tenants say in some rental units they’ve had bedbugs, cockroaches and pigeons inside houses as well as black mold, lead paint and no smoke detectors.

The Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency board voted Tuesday to notify the city, school district and county of a plan to change its standard payment in lieu of taxes (P.I.L.O.T.) agreement for three solar farms in Olean. The wind farms will have to pay the taxes for a year.The city, school district and county would still receive about $500,000 in property taxes in 2018.
The projects are expected to save St. Bonaventure University $283,000 in energy costs a year, and Olean General Hospital $40,000 a year.
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Hope floats this weekend as the VFW Post 212 hosts a rubber duck race on Saturday.
They’ll drop ducks into the water at noon at the trail bridge at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
They’ll ride the current and race to the Barbour Street bridge.
Several rubber ducks will be dressed appropriately enough, in Army, Navy, Air Force, as well as Marine uniforms. There are even some ducks that will be dressed as pirates.

An Allegany County man’s finally getting a grave marker over a hundred years after his tragic death.
John Patterson was one of 137 workers who died working on the Welland Ship Canal construction.
He died in 1913 in southern Ontario. 55 of the workers never received a marker. Next month the The Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial Task Force will present a special grave marker for Patterson at his resting place in Angelica August 8th. It’s the 103rd anniversary of Patterson’s burial.
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Wellsville police arrested a man a man for dui. But when they searched his car, they say they found a hypodermic needle. 34 year old Cory Eck is also charged with unlicensed operation, possession of a hypodermic instrument, driving an unregistered car, driving an uninspected car and driving without insurance. The charges stem from a traffic stop on East Pearl Street in the Village. Eck was taken to the Allegany County Jail in lieu of $1,000 cash bail or $2,000 property bond.

The Senate voted in favor of a motion to proceed with debate on the GOP health care bill. New York’s Democratic senators voted against it. U.S. Rep. Tom Reed says he won’t support the Senate Republican healthcare bill if it removed a provision that would prohibit New York State from passing Medicaid costs on to counties. The so-called Collins-Faso amendment, named after House sponsors New York Reps. Chris Collins and John Faso, was ruled invalid.
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Cattaraugus County lawmakers are holding a public hearing today on a proposed local law to collect a new tax on prepaid cellular phone services. The county has been collecting a 30-cent monthly surcharge on cell phone services with major providers since 2002. But the law doesn’t cover prepaid wireless services such as Trac-Phone and Straight Talk by Walmart. The fees from the county’s monthly cellular surcharge help fund the Sheriff’s Office Enhanced 911 emergency reporting and dispatch system.
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Korean War veteran Herman Foster found out how much his community in Richburg thinks of him and his service to his county. They held a benefit to honor the local hero and present him with a reconditioned 2006 cadillac. Foster’s 85 and disabled. Foster served in the Marine Corps and received three Purple Hearts.
The non-profit Operation Build Up program made the surprise gift during the Southern Tier Wounded Warrior Benefit Sunday in Allegany Fireman’s Park.
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A convicted sex offender is in trouble for moving to Geneseo without regestering as a sex offender.
31 year old Kristian Gordon-Smith from North Olean was charged with failure to change address as a sex offender. According to the Division of Criminal Justice Services’ sex offender registry, Gordon-Smith was convicted of third-degree rape in 2009 for having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
He was sentenced to two years in state prison. His current address right now is the Livingston County Jail where he’s being held without bail.

An inmate at the Southport Correctional Facility in Pine City’s accused of trying to murder another inmate.
New York State Police arrested 21 year old Dominick Coffer. They say he used a knife to attack a prisoner on Aprill 22 at the Attica Correctional Facility. The victim had a number of stab wounds.
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A Coudersport man is in Potter County Jail after being accused of assaulting his wife and threatening to shoot her in the head. Police arrested 61 year old Joseph Santangelo on charges of aggravated assault;
According to court records Santangelo threatened his wife with a loaded 22 magnum handgun. Police say both had been drinking and began arguing. That’s when say said he threatened to shoot her while pointing the gun at her head. She said Santangelo grabbed her throat and choked her.

Welfare fraud is on the rise in the area according to a recent investigation by the Cattaraugus County Department of Social Services .They’ve arrested five people in the past two weeks for forging signatures.
30 year old Leighann Russell, of Salamanca was charged with three counts of forgery. 29 year old Mimi LaPierre is accused of forgery along with 31 year old Kristannette Locklear of Olean. They accused of forging their landlord’s names on Department of Social Services paperwork. 33 year old Janelle Jennings was also charged with forgery, welfare fraud and misuse of food stamps and 35 year old Timothy Sherlock of Wellsville was charged with forgery too. He’s accused of forging names on time sheets.
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A Bradford woman accused of intimidating a witness in an drug death investigation will spend 100 to 200 days in jail. 47 year old Robin Perez pleaded guilty. The case involves the investigation into the death of 25-year-old Derek Edward Michael Clay of Driftwood. She’s not accused in his death.